The stairwell occupies the entire height and width of the palace and is lit by three tiers of windows on both east and west. The white marble steps ascend from both sides to a central landing from which four flights rise to the first floor where the state rooms are located. The walls are embellished with moulded ornament and also decorative vases and dishes made of Chinese and Japanese porcelain (eighteenth- and nineteenth-century) – a reminder of the Chinese Hall that was located here in the mid-1700s. During the Second World War a fire destroyed the décor of the Main Staircase. Only the collection of porcelain survived in part, as it was evacuated in time, together with fragments of the marble vases and balustrades found among the ruins. [Cupid Sleeping] Today the upper landings of the staircase are adorned by restored marble sculptures of Cupid Sleeping and Cupid Awakening that were carved by Victor Brodzsky in 1860 by the order of Empress Maria Feodorovna, the spouse of Alexander II.

During the Second World War a fire destroyed the décor of the Main Staircase. Only the collection of porcelain survived in part, as it was evacuated in time, together with fragments of the marble vases and balustrades found among the ruins. [Cupid Sleeping] Today the upper landings of the staircase are adorned by restored marble sculptures of Cupid Sleeping and Cupid Awakening that were carved by Victor Brodzsky in 1860 by the order of Empress Maria Feodorovna, the spouse of Alexander II.

Only the collection of porcelain survived in part, as it was evacuated in time, together with fragments of the marble vases and balustrades found among the ruins. [Cupid Sleeping] Today the upper landings of the staircase are adorned by restored marble sculptures of Cupid Sleeping and Cupid Awakening that were carved by Victor Brodzsky in 1860 by the order of Empress Maria Feodorovna, the spouse of Alexander II.

The Great Hall or Bright Gallery, as it was called in the eighteenth century, is the largest state room in the palace. It was created to Rastrelli’s design between 1752 and 1756. The stylish hall with a floor area of over 800 square metres was intended as the venue for official receptions and celebrations, banquets, balls and masquerades.

The hall occupies the whole width of the palace and has windows on both sides. In summer the interior is filled with light that plays across the gilding throughout the day. In the evening 696 candles, framed by mirrors, illuminate the Bright Gallery.

The sculptural and ornamental carving that covers the walls of the Great Hall in a single continuous pattern was produced by 130 Russian woodcarvers working from sketches by Rastrelli and models by the decorative sculptor Johann Franz Duncker. The carved décor is especially sumptuous on the end walls that are adorned by compositions featuring many figures.

The original ceiling painting was made in 1752–54 from a sketch by Giuseppe Valeriani (1708–1762), a distinguished Venetian decorative artist who came to Russia at the invitation of Rastrelli. The painting incorporated three separate compositions: an Allegory of Russia, an Allegory of Peace and an Allegory of Victory.

Visitors arriving at Tsarskoye Selo in the mid-eighteenth century during the reign of Elizabeth would find themselves first in the Antechambers adjoining the main staircase in the southern wing of the palace. These rooms were located before the Great Hall and were intended as places for people to wait before audiences and the public appearances of the empress.

The ceiling paintings had subjects from ancient mythology: in the First and Second Antechambers there was The Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne

The southern part of the palace that contains the Antechambers suffered particularly badly during the Second World War. Of all the splendid décor of the halls only a few smoke-blackened fragments of woodcarving could be found in the ashes: among them were two gilded putti that have now been restored and installed above the window of the First Antechamber.

Restoration work in the Antechambers began in the late 1990s. The painting and parquet was recreated; the woodcarving was restored, replenished and gilded. Today the Antechambers have regained their former splendour and have assumed a fitting place among the state rooms of the Golden Enfilade.

The antechambers were lit by windows on both sides and finished to Rastrelli’s designs. Their architecture echoed that of the throne room of the palace: the main element in their decoration was gilded woodcarving, the portals around the doors being given especially opulent treatment with three-dimensional sculpture, cartouches and garlands. Further notes were added to the resonant Baroque chord by ceilings incorporating huge painted canvases and a geometrical-pattern parquet floor of precious types of wood.

Detail in the marble fireplace

The Lyons Hall of the Catherine Palace is one of the interiors waiting to be restored. At the present time, the Lyons Hall welcomes our visitors with the surviving items from its pre-war furnishings and a copy of Luigi Premazzi’s watercolour of 1878 titled The Lyons Hall (Yellow Drawing-Room) in the Great Palace of Tsarskoye Selo, which demonstrates its mid-nineteenth century splendour.

A surviving portion of the original floor.

The Arabesque Hall is one of the most exquisite gala rooms created by Charles Cameron for Empress Catherine II at the Great Tsarskoye Selo Palace.

The re-creation of the Arabesque Hall was started by Resstroy Company in 2006 to Alexander Kedrinsky’s restoration plan of 1979 based on Cameron’s drafts from the State Hermitage Museum, pre- and post-war photographs, and Eduard Hau’s watercolour which reflected most truly the interior and the architect’s original design.

Charles Cameron embellished the hall with pilasters, oval framed mirrors, and rectangular vertical panels with painted arabesques (hence the name). Since it had two tiers of windows, Cameron created a two-tier composition, with painted medallions depicting allegoric figures in antique clothes in the upper tier separated from the lower one by the wide band of gilt frieze. The centerpiece of the east wall is a white Italian marble fireplace.

The ceiling paintings are based on the theme of praise to human virtues. The plafond’s circle-placed medallions depict allegories of peace, fortune, friendship, affability, generosity, confidence, clemency and inspiration. The central medallion resembles the well-known myth about the Judgment of Paris, with the three goddesses, from whom he had to select the most beautiful one, painted as allegories of beauty, modesty and patience. Re-viewed in the spirit of the Age of Enlightenment, the ancient subject is seen as the triumph of virtue, with Beauty, Modesty and Patience surrounded by Peace, Fortune, Friendship, Affability, Generosity, Confidence, Clemency and Inspiration.

The first room beyond the Great Hall is the Chevaliers’ Dining-Room that was also created to Rastrelli’s design. It is not particularly large and so the architect placed mirrors and false windows containing mirrors on the walls, making the hall spacious and bright. The treatment of the interior is typical of the Baroque, dominated by carved and gilded ornament of stylized flowers and seashells.

The gilded dessus-de-porte – over-door – compositions are particularly magnificent.The Chevaliers’ Dining-Room is adorned by a multi-tiered tiled stove with cobalt painting, columns and niches. Heating stoves like this, created to Rastrelli’s designs, were an inseparable part of all the state rooms in the main suite of the palace.

The same factory produced the decorative scent vases. they are known as boule-de-neige (“snowball”) on account of the blooms that decorate them.

When decorating the halls of the Great Palace of Tsarskoye Selo (the Catherine Palace) Rastrelli strove to make the interiors as varied as possible. In finishing the adjoining Crimson and Green Pilaster Rooms the architect made use of some materials that were original for the time: on the walls lined with white damask he placed pilasters containing clear glass backed by red or green metallic foil, hence the names of the two rooms.

Portrait of Catherine I, by Ivan Adolsky (last quarter of the seventeenth century – after 1729)

Empress Elizabeth, by Heinrich Buchholtz (1735–1780), who in [Heinrich Buchholtz. Portrait of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna] corporated into his canvas a portrait made by Louis Caravaque,

The Portrait Hall of the Catherine Palace retained its original décor planned by Rastrelli for two centuries. From early on it was used to display formal depictions of Russian rulers.

The interior was completely destroyed during the war and was recreated from photographs and surviving fragments of décor.

The Picture Hall, a state room of the Great Palace at Tsarskoye Selo (the Catherine Palace) that is situated next to the Amber Room, gets its name from its original and distinctive décor – painted canvases arranged according to the “tapestry” principle was created to Rastrelli’s designs in the 150s. The hall extends across the full width of the building and has a floor area of around 180 square metres. In the eighteenth century it was used for diplomatic receptions, meals and musical soirees.

The hall extends across the full width of the building and has a floor area of around 180 square metres. In the eighteenth century it was used for diplomatic receptions, meals and musical soirees.

Adjoining the Picture Hall is the Small White Dining-Room which was the first room in the personal apartments of Empress Elizabeth and after her of Catherine II, who in her turn passed them over to her favourite grandson, the future Emperor Alexander I.

The walls were lined with white damask in carved and gilded frames; the doors embellished with dessus-de-portes made from models by the sculptor Duncker with elaborate compositions incorporating hunting horns, a quiver, an eagle with spread wings, garlands of flowers and more. The interior also featured a stove with “Hamburg” tiles, mirrors in carved and gilded frames and a patterned parquet floor – traditional elements of Baroque décor.

The Chinese Drawing-Room, created to the designs of the architect Rastrelli in 1752–56, belonged to the private imperial apartments. This interior stood out among the rooms of the Golden Enfilade on account of the silk lining the walls that was painted with watercolours in the Chinese manner.

The rest of the décor followed the general style of the state rooms: a ceiling painting, carved and gilded dessus-de-portes designed by the sculptor Duncker, mirrors between the windows, stoves with “Hamburg” tiles and a patterned parquet floor.

The Green Dining-Room marks the beginning of the private apartments in the northern part of the palace that were created in the 1770s on the orders of Catherine II for her son, Grand Duke Paul (the future Paul I) and his first wife Natalia Alexeyevna.The pale green walls of the dining-room are embellished with white moulded ornament, its motifs taken from wall-paintings in ancient villas. Figures of youths and girls in ancient dress stand out among the fragments of Classical architecture, Greek vases and grapevines. The sculpted décor also includes medallions containing dancing cupids and multi-figure compositions, the relief of which is brought out by the pink background. The doors of the Green Dining-Room are decorated by grotesque ornament that derives from Ancient Roman murals. Most effective is the northern wall of the room, in the centre of which Cameron placed a marble fireplace with consoles in the form of lions’ heads and paws. All the moulded décor in the Green Dining-Room was the work of the great Russian sculptor Ivan Martos (1754-1835).